Scott Swanson
After a second-place finish in the 4A division last year, to repeat champion LaGrande, Sweet Home’s boys are back in the hunt for a state wrestling title in a division that has suddenly gotten even tougher with the reclassification of several powerful 5A schools.
But the Huskies, who lost one state champion with the graduation of Colby Gazeley return three others to give them a running start on this year.
Meanwhile, on the girls side, although veterans Paige Chafin and Kami Hart are off to college wrestling, the Huskies have expanded their numbers to 17, two more than started last season.
“Our numbers jumped tremendously in the last year,” Coach Steve Thorpe said of the girls. “This year we graduated two, but we’ve added more.”
Husky Boys
Back for Sweet Home this year are three state titlists: senior Jake Sieminski, who will be aiming for a third championship this year; junior Kyle Sieminski, who will also be shooting for a third title; and Jacob Landtroop, who won last year as a freshman.
“You return quite a bit of points right there,” Thorpe observed.
But that’s not all. The Huskies welcome back four other placewinners: senior Kaden Zajic, who was third last year; junior Ryker Hartsook, fourth; senior Ethan Spencer, also fourth; senior Trenton Smith, who finished fifth; and junior Jayce Miller, who was sixth.
Also returning after having scored at last year’s state meet are seniors Daniel Goodwin and Evan Jensen, junior David Steagall, and sophomore Ashton Swanson.
Having all that experience is valuable, Thorpe noted, but it also means Sweet Home isn’t going to surprise anybody.
“”Jake and Kyle are going for their third titles and they have huge targets on their backs,” he said. “Kaden and Trenton, they’re both two-time placewinners. People know who they are.
“On other end, we have some tough sophomores, especially with Landtroop.
We have some guys that won a lot of matches and got a lot of experience last year.”
Plus, there are a big group of freshmen, 18 of them, many of whom have spent years in Mat Club before arriving at high school.
The Huskies are loaded – in certain weights.
“What helps us is we have some depth in some weight classes. Guys are going to have to figure out where they’re going to compete.
“But we don’t have a true heavyweight.”
Rounding out the boys team are juniors Deacon Bachand, Patrick Brouillette, Brad Marks, Mason Montigue, Kai Valdez and Reese Volkers; sophomores Jackson Barringer, Colton Bennett, Killan Boggs, Kayo Ebbs, Ricky Erickson, Emilio Grajiola, Bode Hart, Brody Olson, Dylan Sharp and Nathan Thompson; and freshmen Dillan Davis, Johnny DePas, Anaken Garinger, Jeremiah Gill, Tytus Hardee, James Hearick, Zach Hindman, Jackson Knight, Eddie Luttrel, Gabriel Meadors, Luke Rosa, Bridger Royer, Lynkin Royer, Conner Shoup, Roman Shreves, Jeremiah Steagall and Keagan Vogel.
Assisting on the boys side are Tim Boatwright, Justin Chafin, Jackson Royer, Tomas Rosa, Colton Schilling, Clint Sieminski and Nathan Whitfield.
Both the boys and girls open Wednesday, Nov. 30, at the Dick Weisbrodt tournament hosted by Lebanon. They follow with an appearance at the Perry Burlison tournament Saturday, Dec. 3, hosted by Cascade. Their first home appearance will be at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15.
As the Huskies enter the first of the four-year cycle after division realignments were announced earlier this year, some names familiar to any wrestling fan are part of the mix in the 4A Division.
“4A is the toughest division in the state,” Thorpe said. “Crook County, Scappoose and St. Helens are all back in the mix. LaGrande is the returning state champs. They are very, very good this year.
We just have to show up and do our thing.”
Husky Girls
The girls will be coached for the second year in a row by Gracie Olson Stutzman, who will be assisted this season by Haley May, who played golf for Sweet Home and then at Corban University, but who, Thorpe noted, was a longtime statistician for the wrestling team.
“She’s been around the program. She was part of that too,” he said, adding that the fact that May is now a counselor at the high school helps as well.
“Haley is teaching here and with our numbers and that Gracie became a mom this past year, we’re adding Haley here to help out.”
Gone are two stalwarts for the Huskies, Chafin, who is wrestling at Eastern Oregon in LaGrande after winning a state title last year, and Hart, who is wrestling in the brand-new program at Linfield.
The girls finished eighth behind Chafin and then-unseeded junior Kendra Jamison, who finished her first season on the mat with a fifth-place finish in the 100-pound weight class.
Jamison is back, along with fellow seniors Zoey Erevia and Kelsie Rush.
“We have a lot of experience,” Thorpe said, noting that Erevia and Jamison both wrestled “all summer” and went to Fargo, N.D., with the national team from Oregon.
Also in Fargo was now-freshman Bailey Chafin, whose experience coming into high school is comparable to Marissa Kurtz, who is now wrestling at Southern Oregon.
Rounding out the girls team are juniors Trinity Landtroop, Mahlia Lane, Cadence Makinson, Miah Miller, Stephanie Saultz, Riley Watkins, Lydia Wright and Kaylene Zajic; sophomore Alyssa Peterson; and freshmen Mahala Gourley-Webster, Colby Hesberg, Ava Nash and Emma Pangle.
“We have some newer girls,” Thorpe said. “I always like bringing some new girls into the mix. It makes us better, always.”
“We have some great leadership right now. The seniors have stepped up, taken charge. It’s always good to have that kind of experience, that kind of leadership show up for you.”
The girls will wrestle a “full” schedule, he said, noting that because of the mushrooming numbers of girls in wrestling, the OSAA has divided the state into 1A/2A/3A/4A and 5A and 6A divisions.
“We’re going to run our girls program as closely mirrored to the boys as we can. We’re going to see what we can do. Some of these newer girls have got to gain some ground, close that gap between experience and inexperience.
“It’s going to be important for us to trophy at state and get a state title. It’s a numbers game so we need to get as many through regionals, to the state tournament, as we can.”